The Czech
and Slovak Music Society

Newsletter

Volume III, Number 1

Spring 1999

.

..WORLD PREMIERE

Bohuslav Martinů'sTHE
GREEK PASSION

.

The first version of Martinů's The
Greek Passion will be premiered in Bregenz, Austria this summer.
Performances are scheduled for July 20, 25, 29 and August 1 and 5. A
conference on Martinů's operas (July 26-27) will also be included in the
series.

The following preface was
graciously submitted by Aleš Březina (Martinů Study Center - Prague) to whom we
are greatly indebted for reconstructing the first version and bringing it to
performance. Mr. Březina wishes to dedicate this article to the memory of
Martinů's advocate, Paul Sacher, who died on May 26, 1999.

THE GREEK PASSION - FIRST VERSION (LONDON COVENT GARDEN VERSION)

(Note:
A version of the following will appear as the preface to the printed score.)

The Genesis of The
Greek Passion

On September 17, 1955
Bohuslav Martinů (b. 1890, Polička, Bohemia; d. 1959, Liestal, Switzerland)
wrote to his friend and patron Paul Sacher: "Please get your
typewriter ready. I would like to write down the libretto of my new
opera." Some time later, the composer asked Sacher to provide him
with the scores of operas by Monteverdi and Purcell. (The postcard is not
dated, but according to his remark, Sacher received it on August 3, 1956.
The titles of operas that Sacher provided Martinů were added in another hand --
"Monteverdi: Orfeo, Poppea, Purcell: Fairy Queen."
Thus, Martinů, at this time already an internationally recognized composer and
author of almost 400 works, announced his fifteenth opera. After a long
search, he had, indeed, found the desired tragic subject in Nikos Kazantzakis's
novel Christ Recrucified.

In 1956, in his request for
support from the Guggenheim Foundation for the composition of The Greek
Passion, Martinů described the proposed opera as follows:

I am planning
to write an opera called The Greek Passion based on a novel by Nikos
Kazantzakis. It will demand two years of work for the pleasure of seeing
the final page of the score. My life-long plan in the field of opera came
into being already in Paris in 1926. I began with simple forms on
folk-texts and legends and then matured to modern dream-opera Juliette (1937).
The individual stages include the following: opera-ballet Špalíček(1934), Plays about Mary
(1935), commedia dell'arte Theatre beyond the Gate (1937), Comedy on
the Bridge, The Marriage, What Men Live By. In the
years 1953-54, I completed the comedy La Locandiera. I now feel
ready for another step, which is most difficult and responsible, and that is a
musical tragedy. I have found a text such as I have been seeking for years.
It is a contemporary theme about a tragedy in a little Greek town. I had
the pleasure and honour of meeting Mr. Kazantzakis in the south of France and
we worked for a whole year on the adaptation of this tremendous novel, full of
action, into the form of an opera. There have been many changes, but the
libretto is now definitive.

In
our time, an artist goes about with a confused grasp of values and seeks order,
a system, in which human and artistic values are preserved andconfirmed. This is the
case with Mr. Kazantzakis's novel and that is why I have chosen it as the text
of a tragic opera.

I
need help for this task, as I will be merely dependent on royalties that are
too small and do not allow me to work on a composition of thesedimensions. I will need
time and full concentration for the entire work all the way through to its
completion and will be very grateful for any help. Ashort, customary description of
the libretto would not give a correct picture. I shall give preference to
a general synopsis so I can express thefeeling of this eternal human
tragedy.

The
plot begins at the time when the priest Grigoris is gathering the elders of
Lycovrissi and chooses from the villagers Christ and the apostlesfor the passion play. The
deep sense of peace in which the little village almost too comfortably lived
was disturbed by a sudden shock. Just like thefinger of God demands a show of
faith, refugees from a sacked and abandoned village move onto the village
square and beg for asylum. They were refused with anger and forced to
look for shelter in the rocky mountains and satisfy their hunger with wild
grass and their hearts with continuous prayer. But the newly appointed
saints go after the anxious refugees, who are led by the fiery spirit of father
Fotis, the refugees' insurmountable priest andleader. The day to day
lives of these men gradually disappear; the strength of their faith and their
roles in the coming passion begin to transformtheir spirits into new maturity.
Manolios, a shepherd and dreamer, lives through a terrible battle in likening
Christ. The naive and playful peddlerforgets about his petty
thievery, the lecherous widow Katerina, Mary Magdalen, pays dearly for her new
faith, and the wild Judas is consumed byhis fate.

We
recognize each man and woman by the fluctuations of their spirit, always
fervently alive and exploding with passionate energy so they mayarrive at their goals. We experience
with them the joyful warm summer and the harvest, the wild amorous union of
Nikolio and Lenio in the outdoors,the desperate battle between the
refugees and villagers and the tragic death of Manolios the shepherd - Christ.

The
two great themes are like thin trickles of blood: the heritage of man's
Christian virtues and his obligations to humanity. Those who, in theirgreat faith, take the path of
universal love find their way blocked by those who refuse to give up their
selfishness. Each man and woman graduallyreturns to what he must do, good
or evil. The tremendous forces seething underground explode, sweeping
everything away in a destructive eruption.

It is
immediately apparent that the novel's subject - the fate of the refugees in an
indifferent and egotistical society - meant much more to Martinů than merely a
proper text for his music. Since February 1948, he too had been homeless,
caught between the two fronts of the Cold War. In the era of Senator
McCarthy in the United States, the Czech composer was considered suspect
because of his origin, and in communist Czechoslovakia, the U.S. citizen Martinů
was considered a "renegade," "traitor" and "servant of
the reaction." In a letter to Sacher dated July 4, 1957, the
composer himself was most outspoken on this subject, describing on two pages
his desperate search for asylum.

In a letter dated November 3,
1955, Martinů was finally able to inform his friend and biographer, Miloš Šafránek,
that he had "definitively completed" the libretto for The Greek
Passion. Shortly thereafter, he forwarded the libretto for evaluation
to Nikos Kazantzakis, whom he had met personally in the meantime. Kazantzakis,
normally very critical, answered on November 29 with the following words:
"[...] I've read your libretto with great attention, it is very clear and
moderate. I do not need to modify anything. You yourself know best
what can be useful for your music, and in an opera, the music comes
first."

Compressing the five-hundred-page
novel was a major problem for the composer, a fact he referred to again and
again in his correspondence. On August 21, 1956 he wrote Šafránek:
"The work is progressing very slowly and is very difficult, as the opera
is full of excellent sentences, and for this reason the text requires more
consideration than a normal opera." In another letter to Šafránek
dated August 8, 1957, Martinů was even more specific: "I am working
on the opera, but it is a difficult task, there are so many dialogues in it and
only a few of them can be deleted if the libretto is also to remain clear for
idiots, and this takes away much of the music." It is crucial to
underline here that Martinů reflects upon and substantiates his deliberate
choice. Although the music is very important to him, he must take the
nature of the text into account. Even on April 17, 1957, immediately
before completing the first version, he wrote to Šafránek: "Working
on the libretto was the most difficult [...] with such comprehensive material
[...]." One month later, however, he admitted: "Yet,
these are difficulties to be found with each modern opera whose basis is
conversation more than anything else." On June 15, 1957 he could
finally inform Šafránek: "The Greek Passion is definitively
complete and now I wait only for its performance."

Planning the Premiere at
the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Several renowned opera houses
were already being solicited at the time The Greek Passion was being
composed. (This was certainly facilitated by the activities of Mr. Alfred
Schlee, the director of the publishing house of Universal Editions, Vienna,
with whom Martinů reached an agreement forthe publication of the opera.)
Through the efforts of Herbert von Karajan, interest was generated at La Scala
in Milan, the Staatsoper in Vienna and the Salzburg Music Festival. The
same was true for Covent Garden, under music director Rafael Kubelík.
(The interest of the Zürich Opera, which in the end premiered the second
version, was facilitated by such individuals as Paul Sacher, Hans Erismann, and
Maria Stader.) In a letter to Paul Sacher dated February 17, 1957, Martinů
mentioned some of these possibilities for the work's premiere:
"There is a great interest in my opera from Karajan and also at La Scala
and in London from Kubelík."

Of these, Rafael Kubelík
obviously had the most concrete plans. As far as we know today, the first
written reference to The Greek Passion appeared at Covent Garden in an
inter-departmental memo dated May 9, 1957. Therein Kubelík wrote to Lord
Harewood, board member and director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden:
"I had lunch with Maurice Johnstone [head of music programs at the BBC
since 1953] yesterday, when we discussed the Martinů opera. He seemed
very interested in it and spoke of the possibility of the BBC broadcasting it
from a stage performance here, in which case they would come to an arrangement
with Covent Garden for sharing the cost of giving this opera its world
premiere. [...] My idea would be to perform this opera during the festival of
July 1958."

Fortunately, minutes of the
board as well as of the subcommittee meetings at Covent Garden were drawn up,
allowing insight into the discussions regarding The Greek Passion. For
June 12, 1957 these records read: "Mr. Kubelík reported that Martinů
had written a new opera, based on the novel The Greek Passion. He
had seen the score, and it seemed to him to be a fine score on a big, tragic
theme. It would not be too difficult for singers; there was much choral
work in the opera; there were seven scenes, but this could be staged without
excessive elaboration. The Royal Opera House had the opportunity of
giving the world premiere of this opera."

The general reaction to Kubelík's
proposal was positive. "It was pointed out that it would be ideal
for all concerned if the first performance of this new opera could be conducted
by Mr. Kubelík, which was in itself a reason for wishing to produce the opera
for the first time at Covent Garden. The production would come on in
autumn 1958; it did not appear that there were any other new operas likely to
compete with this, which would bring great reclame for the theatre. After
discussion the subcommittee agreed to recommend to the board that negotiations
should continue with a view to securing the world premiere of Martinů's new
opera for the Royal Opera House."

Yet hardly three months after
this promising start, on August 2, 1957, Martinů writes to Šafránek:
"[...] It did not work out with the Covent Garden Opera House, we could
not come to an agreement, and, therefore, The Greek Passion will
probably be performed for the first time at a festival in Zürich in June."
What were the reasons for the sudden change in Covent Garden's plans? The
answer to this can likewise be found in the Covent Garden archives.

On June 18, 1957, six days
after the above-mentioned meeting, the idea for a premiere was still viewed
quite positively. "Mr. Webster [general administrator of the Royal
Opera House, Covent Garden from 1945 to 1970] said that if the board accepted
the subcommittee's recommendation, the first performance of the new opera by
Martinů would open the 1958/59 season." But further on one reads:
"Sir Arthur Bliss [composer, member of the board of the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden] suggested that it would make for good relationships with the
musical world if the score were seen by one or two competent musicians before
the announcement was made." Following this suggestion, the Board
decided that two experts - Mr. Sackville-West and Endric Cundell - should
evaluate the opera.

Yet three expert opinions,
not two, are kept in the archives of the Royal Opera House. In addition
to Cundell, John Denison and Professor Anthony Lewis commented on Martinů's opera.
Mr. Sackville-West did not give his opinion for reasons which I have not yet
been able to determine.

Of the three, Professor Lewis
was the one who expressed himself most distinctly. The musicologist,
organizer, conductor, and occasional composer (a pupil of Nadia Boulanger,
among others) found in the opera both lyric passages and distinct musical
characterizations of the persons omitted from the libretto. Following a
few rather reluctantly admitted qualities, always accompanied by partly absurd
criticism (e.g., that the English audience would not understand the details in
the religious hierarchy of a Greek province [a factor completely irrelevant to
the plot]), Lewis concludes his review with the following words:
"Naturally, in considering this work for future production at Covent
Garden, the views of the musical director [Kubelík] will weigh most heavily and
so also will the fact of his close relationship with the composer. Having
regard to the existing financial stringency and the limited opportunities for
new productions at Covent Garden, one wonders whether priority should not be
given to other Czech operas of more interesting and proved value, which have
not yet been heard in London, such as Smetana's Dalibor and Janáček's Cunning
Little Vixen. There is also a need to ensure that the claims of
unperformed operas by contemporary English composers are included."

The conductor Endric Cundell
found the libretto of little interest and the music "rather improvised and
not memorable." The seemingly weak passages would have to be covered
by a skillful production. The fact that Cundell, after such criticism,
nevertheless expressed an entirely incomprehensible and scarcely credible
"Yes" to the production of The Greek Passion at Covent Garden,
may be connected with the fact that Kubelík supported the idea.

And finally, there was John
Denison, horn player, organizer, and musical director of the Art Councils as of
1948. While considering the libretto to be weak, he found the choruses to be of
good quality. Owing to the subject, the opera could be of some interest to the
general public; however, it would hardly be able to interest the exclusive and
intellectual audience of Covent Garden. If there were nothing better available
at the moment, Covent Garden may perform it, but a world premiere would not be
desirable.

It is also not surprising to
find the following diplomatic phrasing in the subcommittee's report of July 10,
1957: "After considering further reports on Martinů's new opera, which
had been discussed at the previous meeting of the subcommittee, the
subcommittee decided that it did not wish to press upon the board the
suggestion that the world premiere of this opera should be secured for the
Royal Opera House."

This point of view was
submitted by the subcommittee to the board, as apparent from the minutes of
Covent Garden's board meeting dated July 16, 1957. Kubelík's reaction can
also be found in this report: "Mr. Kubelík said that he thought the
criticisms of the Martinů opera which had been placed before the subcommittee
were very fair. He himself still believed in the opera, however, and thought
its apparent defects were a possible source of strength since they offered new
methods of overcoming well-known problems."

It is a pity that the report
says nothing about the immediate reaction of the board members to Kubelík's
statement, which differs fundamentally from the opinions of the three experts.
Instead, only the following laconic remark appears: "The board:
Accepted the subcommittee's view that Covent Garden should not attempt to
secure the world premiere of the new Martinů opera, but should consider
producing it at some time later."

Martinů's reaction to the bad
news from London has already been mentioned. From the letter addressed to
Šafránek, dated August 2, 1959, it is quite obvious that he did not intend to
make any changes. As with Kubelík, he was convinced that his solution was right
and of consequence. Only later did he concede to pressure from the outside.
It then took him an additional two years to complete the second version (The
"Zürich" version) of The Greek Passion.

Characteristics of the
First Version

The libretto was adapted by
the composer himself on the basis of an English-language translation of Nikos
Kazantzakis's novel Christ Recrucified by Jonathan Griffin. The main
problem was condensing the extensive novel into a libretto for a two-hour
opera. This also required a reduction in the number of characters and a
considerable omission of their individual biographies (in place of a detailed
description of "the history of the village," Martinů instead
characterized them, in short, through some type of "typical"
situation) but particularly the omission of one of the main and omnipresent
themes of the motivically expansive novel - the Turkish subjugation of Crete.
Martinů therefore reduced the extensive axis of time to an immediate
explication of the drama from its unassuming beginning (the selection of main
characters for the performance of the passion play), through the gradual
self-identification of the chosen with their biblical roles, to the bloody
climax. The greatest attention was given to the transformation of the main
characters from common people to individuals with a capacity for self-pity on the
one hand, and excommunication and murder on the other.

The music of this original
version is characterized by fragmentary methods where characteristic motives
quickly alternate forming a mosaic. Four of these motives assume a more
significant role, however:

1.
The theme of the cross - a flowing motive in sixths above a pedal point
which makes its first appearance in the B 28 opening [see Sources] in Act I,
Scene 1, after rehearsal number 13, as Priest Grigoris sings: "How can I
become worthy to bear the terrible weight of the cross?"

2.
The Kyrie eleison theme - a succession of four chords articulated by a
fermata that concludes on a tonic six-four chord. It is heard for the
first time in the B 28 opening in Act I, Scene 1, after rehearsal number 8, as
Grigoris sings: "From today you are a new man." It is a
theme of compassion, which is the central subject of the opera, but the
official church and its principal representative, Priest Grigoris, make a claim
to it as well.

3.
The theme of selfless love - first appearance in Act III, Scene 4, two
measures before rehearsal number 10, after Katerina's words: "[...]
as if all the children in the world were mine." This expresses the
transformation in the feeling of physical love for Manolios to a spiritual
connection and a love for God.

4.
The marriage theme - folk-like in character, utilizing augmented
fourths, wild and unrestrained. This theme characterizes the profane
world of the village of Lycovrissi. It resounds for the first time in the
overture of the first act of B 28 and in the introduction to the first scene.
This theme is also the basis for the entrancing flute improvisations of the
shepherd Nikolio, which entices Manolios's betrothed Lenio. It is also
used very expressively at the opening of the fourth act for the wedding of
Lenio and Nikolio.

Martinů uses the first two
motives for the expression of intertextual correlations; I have already
mentioned the "official" and "unofficial" use of the Kyrie
eleison motive. Martinů uses the theme of the cross quite
expressively, which relates, among other things, the confusion in the mind of
the not yet reborn shepherd Manolios, who is filled with both the desire for a
woman and eschatological pathos.

Throughout the opera, characteristic
instrumentations play an important role in depicting the rich and many-layered
semantic fields as certain instrumental groups are assigned to individual
characters or character groups (wind instruments for Grigoris, strings for
Manolios, an accordion for Katerina, percussion for Ladas, etc.).

The Differences Between
the Two Versions

The second (Zürich) version
of The Greek Passion was newly composed in its entirety, for the most
part in passages with identical text (in some of these, the music retains a
certain affinity with the music of the first version in the sense of a
"matrix"). Finally, there are some rare passages in the second
version that were reused without any modification.

There is a basic difference
between the two versions, particularly with respect to their musical structure,
dramaturgy, inner logic of development, and presentation of the leading
characters. The music of the first version is far more dramatic and the
use of characteristic motives more consequential. In the first version, Martinů
oriented himself strongly towards the operas of Monteverdi, especially in the
recitatives. It can be said that the first version contains a specific
kind of recitative that shows great melodic quality.

On the Reconstruction of
the First Version

Martinů disassembled the
original manuscript of the first version, written just like the second one on
loose, transparent sheets (with the mark Circle Blue Print), into many
individual parts. He used only a few sheets for the second version
(marking them with a new page number). He gave many of these pages to
either friends or institutions while keeping some himself. It was
therefore necessary to reassemble the first version from many different sources
(see Sources). Nevertheless, the correspondence between my reconstruction
and Martinů's original score of the first version is reliable: in
addition to a number of paleographical arguments, it is also corroborated by a
complete, hand-written piano score of the first version, which Universal
Editions in Vienna commissioned in 1957 (arranged by Karl-Heinz Füssl).
To this day the piano score is kept in the archives of Universal Editions,
Vienna and is identical with my reconstructed full score.

There exist two additional
versions of the beginning of the first act that are now kept in the Paul Sacher
Foundation in Basel. (In my Catalogue of Martinů manuscripts in the Paul
Sacher Foundation Basel, published in the Schweizer Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft,
N.F., 13/14, Paul Haupt Berne, 1994, these versions are listed with the
reference numbers B 29 and B 30.) B 29 contains the first two scenes of
the first act, lending itself ideally as a variant to the first version,
presenting the leading actors much more comprehensively and plastically.
From a letter written to Šafránek on September 21, 1957, we can see that Martinů
eventually withdraw the B 29 version only because of its longer duration (the
difference from the B 28 opening is only by a few minutes). Hence, he
considered version B 29 as definitive and was not at all discontented with it.
The editors consider the B 29 version of the two first scenes as definitely
more consequent and dramatic than the opening scenes of the B 28 version. We
are therefore publishing both versions, and are leaving the decision as to
which one to choose to the respective producer.

The textual revision of the
first version was made by Sir Charles Mackerras. This was a necessary
measure since the opera has never been performed or published, and the original
English text contains many inconsistencies and grammatical errors and in some
places is hardly comprehensible. Explicit grammatical errors were
corrected without commentary. In cases where errors were not self-evident,
solutions were offered as an ossia, and the original text was preserved.
In this way a free choice between the original and the revised version is
offered, as well as the possibility to create a new variant.

Aleš BřezinaPrague - Basel, November 1998

Sources

Two complete versions of The
Greek Passion exist (from 1957 and 1959) as well as two partial versions of
Act I (1956-57) and several different versions of the libretto. The
reference numbers are from Aleš Březina: Die Martinů-Manuskripte in
der Paul Sacher Stiftung Basel, in: Joseph Willimann (ed.) Schweizer
Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft, N.F., 13/14, Paul Haupt Berne, 1994,
p.157-274.

The correspondence of Universal
Editions, Vienna with Herbert von Karajan and the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden was also very useful. (These materials are held in the archives of
Universal Editions, Vienna, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.)

(NOTE:
Additional information regarding editorial principals, etc. will appear in the
preface to the printed edition.)

On the Loss of our
Colleagues . . .

Jaroslav Mráček, well known as an advocate of Czech
music and who served on the faculty of San Diego State University for
twenty-six years, died in his sleep Tuesday, May 4, at the Alvarado
Convalescent and Rehabilitation Hospital. He was seventy years old.
Dr. Mráček was born in Montreal, Quebec to Czech parents. He grew up in
Toronto, Ontario, earning a bachelor's degree in music in 1951 from the
University of Toronto. After seven years as a high school music teacher in
Ottawa, Dr. Mráček attended the Indiana University School of Music on a Canada
Council Fellowship. He received a doctoral degree in musicology, then
joined the faculty of San Diego State University in 1965. During his SDSU
career, he was twice honored as "Outstanding Professor from the College of
Professional Studies." In 1980 Dr. Mráček and his family lived for a
year in Marburg, Germany, and visited France, Italy, Austria, and
Czechoslovakia during their stay.

In 1984, for the Centennial
of Bedřich Smetana's death, Dr. Mráček organized a music festival and
conference in San Diego which Ivo Feierabend, professor emeritus in political
science at SDSU, described as " . . . a major achievement for the
university, something no-one had thought of before." For the
scholars of Czech music who attended from around the world, it would prove to
be an even more momentous occasion.
-- Judith Mabary

*
* *

I'm looking at the back of my
Smetana Centennial Program. Fourteen faces look back at me, including my
own. There are several younger faces, a rakish-looking Alan Houtchens, an
intense boyish Charles Brewer, and a stylish Jarmila Gabrielová. There
are Jaroslav Jiránek, John Yoell, and Karel Husa. And those who have
departed this world: John Clapham, Edith Vogl Garrett, Jarmil Burghauser,
and most recently Zdeňka Pilková and Jaroslav Mráček.

Flipping through the program
now, from front to back one sees a beautifully planned event, dozens of
lectures and concerts, including the San Diego Symphony playing Má vlast.
Three articles are among the offerings -- one by John Clapham, and two of the
earliest publications of Beckerman and Houtchens -- as well as lectures by John
Tyrrell, Joseph Začek, Robert Stevenson, and many, many more.

This was the event that
started the modern field of Czech music, and Jaroslav Mráček was its architect.
Those who have come upon the scene more recently might wonder why this is so,
and how it all came to be.

First, it must be recognized
that the concert/festivals which have followed -- on Dvořák, Janáček and Martinů
-- were all modeled on the Smetana Centennial (the Washington University Janáček
conference in 1988 was unabashedly a copy of it).

Second, it was at this
meeting that the first proposals were made for the Czech (or Czechoslovak, or
Czech and Slovak) Music Society. Though all the participants believed in
their small field, there was strength in numbers, and finding out that other
people really cared about one's work was deeply meaningful.

Third, Mráček was able to use
his connections to bring over several Czech scholars at a time when such things
were terribly difficult to do. Gabrielová, Pilková, Burghauser, and Jiránek
were the guests, and their contribution was memorable.

Finally, Mráček was able to
cobble together an impressive amount of support, from both public and private
sources. There were grants from the NEH and British Council, San Diego
State University and the L.J. Skaggs Foundation, and, critical to the success
of the whole operation, the creation of the Friends of Czechoslovak Music.

This meeting was an
inspiration to many of us, as was its creator. Mráček was living proof
that one could have a career as a student of Czech and Slovak music, and make a
difference in the lives of so many younger scholars.

At this point, it would be
hard to find anyone in the larger field of Czech and Slovak music who did not
benefit in some way from Mráček's work in general, and the Smetana Centennial
Conference in particular. Without it, who knows where we would be?
With it, and with his example, we were all enriched.

On behalf of our society and
our field I mourn the loss of Jaroslav Mráček and offer deep and sincere
condolences to his family. If at any point we take pride in our work and
our specialization, we owe him thanks.

Michael BeckermanPast President and Founding
MemberCzech and Slovak Music
Society

Anyone who knew Zdeňka Pilkovás kind, gentle and always cheerful character
hardly ever suspected the many hardships and obstacles she had had to contend
with at times during her extraordinarily active career. It was only after the
collapse of communism that she could truly relax and enjoy both her work, as
well as her numerous grandchildren and the freedom to travel - an enjoyment
sadly cut short by her brief but fatal illness.

She was born into a well-to-do family. Her father was a high-ranking finance
official - a fact that counted against her after the communist takeover of
Czechoslovakia. Nonetheless, in 1950 she was enrolled at the Philosophy Faculty
of Prague University. It was Jiří Pilka who influenced her in the choice of
musicology as her subject to which she added a second, ethnography. She
and Jiří met in 1948, the year of the communist coup, when they both were
members of a group of young people around Pavel Křivský, striving to
uphold some of the philosophical and ethical values in a crumbling world. They
married a year later. Jiří was subsequently prosecuted for his links with
Křivský who was accused of treason and tried in one of the famous staged trials
of the early 50s, and after serving a six-month prison sentence was reduced to
menial jobs.

It was at this difficult time that Zdeňka first showed her true mettle. With
characteristic singlemindedness she completed her diploma work The
Melodramas and Singspiels of George Benda, a unique study of a hitherto
neglected subject , and graduated in 1955. Soon afterwards she joined the music
department of Prague Radio. Her husband had in the meantime made the grade from
construction worker back to university student, eventually graduating in
musicology and history. (This in itself made little difference to his cadre
profile and he was reduced to menial jobs until the political thaw of the
early 60s when, in 1963, he joined the music department of Czechoslovak TV.)

By 1964, when Zdeňka joined the Academy of Sciences, she had two daughters
to look after, a PhD to study for (dissertation: The Music Branch of the
Umělecká Beseda and Its Development and Activity in Czech Musical Life 1863 -
1963, 1968), more study for the higher CSc diploma, plus her life-long
interest - dance. She had studied piano and dance since her childhood. At the
age of eight she joined the school of Jarmila Jerabková - a pupil of Isadora
Duncan - and remained a member of her group until a year before her death. In
the 50s she also joined the dance group of Eva Kroeschlová, which specialized
in genuine folk dancing. Both groups rehearsed twice a week, the latter touring
not only at home but also abroad in Germany and France. When Zdeňka got older,
she contributed to the groups work as a dramaturg, organizer and interpreter.

Her knowledge of languages was prodigious. So was her grasp of 18th-century
history and culture. Her specialization was, of course, Czech music of that
period but to listen to her lectures on, for instance, the baroque period in
general, was to marvel at the breadth of her knowledge and the crispness of her
style. She never succumbed to the florid (though often vacuous) style
characteristic of intellectuals in the post-1968 normalization period
which followed on the heels of the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Her
vast output of publications is a pleasure to read. She visited the United
States three times to give lectures at a number of universities where she also
spoke on later Czech composers (Smetana in 1984 at the composers centennial in
San Diego, Janáček in 1988 in St. Louis, Missouri), was a regular
visitor/contributor to conferences and symposia in Germany, Poland, France, London
(the 1991 Mozart Conference and The Dvořák Society for Czech and Slovak Music)
and elsewhere, she occasionally lectured at Charles University in Prague and at
other universities at home and abroad (USA, The Netherlands, Saarbruecken), and
she made hundreds of radio programmes and other musical and dance presentations
(some of them with Jiří). In the 70s and 80s she was vice-chair of the Czech
Society for Early Music.

She co-edited three volumes for the Henle Verlag of Munich with Sonja
Gerlach (Czech Violin Sonatas I and II and Dvořák: Sonatina in G, Op. 100) and
contributed - in her own hand - scores of Czech 18th-century symphonies (J.J.
Neruda, A. Kammel and J. Mysliveček) to The Symphony 1720 - 1840 project
of Garland Publishing, New York. She was particularly pleased with her chapter
on classicism in Music in Czech History (Prague 1983 and, again, 1989).

She worked full-time at the Academy in Prague until 1991. Afterwards she
continued to work there on specific projects until a few months before her
death. She leaves a meticulously kept archive of research notes on which
her more than sixty studies, most of them published abroad, have been based and
which would have yielded many more publications had she lived.

Karel Janovický
London

CONFERENCES
AND FESTIVALS

The Czech Musicological
Society, in cooperation with the Institute of
Musicology (Charles University, Prague), Institute of Musicology (Czech Academy
of Sciences), Antonín Dvořák Society, Antonín Dvořák Museum, and Bohuslav
Martinů Foundation in Prague arranged an international conference Antonín
Dvořák- the Present State of the Critical Edition of His Complete Works.
The conference was held (as a separate part of the Annual Colloquium on Prague
Musical Life in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries and the Works of
Bohuslav Martinů) on May 28-29, 1999. The purpose of the conference
was to initiate a critical discussion on the existing volumes of the edition
from the viewpoint of present standards of editorial and performing practice,
to reflect upon the perspectives and problems of resuming and completing the
project, and to design editorial principles for the edition. The list of
participants and papers (presented as a tentative list prior to the
conference*) was as follows (in alphabetical order):

(*Final
information regarding participants was not available at the time of this
newsletter.)

The conference was held on
Friday, May 28 in Zdeňka Podhajská Hall (Bohuslav Martinů Foundation and Study
Center, nám. Kinských 3, 150 00 Prague 5 - Smíchov) from 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon
and from 2:00 - 6:00 p.m. On Saturday, May 29, participants attended the
colloquium on the life and works of Bohuslav Martinů. The colloquium
focused on the composer's early period. A reception and continuation of
discussions were held from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. at the Antonín Dvořák Museum,
Prague (Ke Karlovu 20, 120 00 Prague 2 - Nové Město).

.The Role of the Romanies:Images and Self-Images of
Romanies/"Gypsies" in European CulturesAn Interdisciplinary
ConferenceUniversity of LiverpoolSeptember 15-18, 2000

Since their arrival in Europe
at the beginning of the eleventh century, the "Gypsies" have
stimulated and fascinated the European imagination, but have also always been
perceived as "other" and marginalized. At the end of the millennium,
after centuries of discrimination and persecution, Romanies/"Gypsies"
remain the least understood and least popular ethnic minority group in most
European countries. Yet very few people have first-hand knowledge of them.

This conference seeks to
address the questions raised by the ambivalent encounter of the
"Gypsies" with European cultures. It aims both to re-examine Gadjo
constructions of Romanies/"Gypsies" in the Orientalist style over the
centuries and to appraise and compare the contributions made by Romanies
themselves to European cultures.

We invite contributions in
the fields of linguistics, cultural and media studies (particularly film and
music), literary studies, social history, and anthropology. The language of the
conference will be English. The organizers plan to publish a selection of the
papers. Offers of papers by Romanies and papers relating to Eastern Europe are
particularly welcome.

The research students of the
School of Slavonic and East European Studies (University of London), with the support
of the School's academic staff, are organizing an interdisciplinary conference
which, coinciding with a new era of expansion for the European Union, aims to
contribute to a wide-ranging analysis of the competing legacies the
post-communist states must contend with, and of the relative weight their
traditions and aspirations carry in each of these countries.

Papers are being called for
in the following areas and broadly addressing these sub-topics:

POLITICS:
East, West, or Third Way?
Political Culture and Civil Society
Political Leadership and the Will to Reform

ECONOMICS:
Macroeconomic stabilization and the "euro"
Can the Emerging Markets Compete in Europe

SOCIOLOGY:
Migration and Social Imbalances in Europe
Women in the Post-Communist World
National Identity and the New European Order

HISTORY / HISTORIOGRAPHY:
Rewriting "The West" in Central and East European History
Historical Borders and "Europeanisation"

LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, and
CULTURE:
Pan-European Culture: Shared Heritage or Wishful Construct?
Can Eastern Europe Turn its Back on the Recent Past?
National Identity in the Global Village

For more information and the
submission of papers and abstracts, please contact:
Roman Zyla or Elizabeth Skomp at: romanzyla1@hotmail.com

or write to:
Postgraduate Research Conference
c/o Department of Social Sciences
School of Slavonic and East European Studies
University of London
Senate House
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HU
UK

Royal Holloway (London) will
be hosting the year 2000 biennial conference on 19th-century music, at Egham
from Thursday, June 29 to Sunday, July 2, 2000. Any queries at this stage
should be addressed to David Charlton <d.charlton@rhbnc.ac.uk>.

The Department of Music of
Royal Holloway College
(University of London) will join the Centre for the Study of Central Europe,
School of Slavonic and East European Studies (University of London) for a
conference titled -- A Tale of Three Cities: Janáček's Brno
Between Vienna and Prague, Friday, October 22, 1999 - Sunday, October 24,
1999. For additional information, visit <http://www.sun.rhbnc.ac.uk/Music/Conferences/99-a-ttc.html>.

The American Association
for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
will hold a convention in St. Louis, Missouri (November 18-21, 1999). For
topics to be covered during the various sessions and information on
registration, visit <http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~aaass/>.

PUBLICATIONS

Issues of Nation
Discussed

Ralph Locke (Eastman School
of Music) has published an essay entitled "Musicology and/as Social
Concern: Imagining the Relevant Musicologist," in Rethinking Music,
ed., Nicholas Cook and Mark Everist (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999),
pp. 499-530. The volume's editors describe this essay (in their Introduction)
as "an extraordinarily wide-ranging and thoughtful account."
Among the issues discussed are the ways in which categories of
"nation" have influenced music-historical writing (for better and
worse).

REVIEWS.Washington Chamber Symphony
plays Martinů

On January 14, 1999, Stephen
Simon led the Washington Chamber Symphony in a performance of Martinů's Concerto
for Harpsichord and Small Orchestra in Terrace Theater, the chamber music
hall of Kennedy Center. His interpretation paid homage to the work's
roots in the baroque keyboard tradition as well as to its kinship to the music
of Martinů's French contemporaries Ravel and Poulenc.

The soloist, Elaine
Comparone, played with expert assurance and a clear devotion to the music of
Martinů and the Concerto. She enhanced the subtleties of Martinů's
athletic line with discreet rubato and nuance; the logical sense of the work
was leavened with a spark of impulsiveness, of exuberance. She
played a harpsichord that is a present-day reproduction of a Blanchet, a
powerful instrument which provided an excellent balance with the orchestra and
the accompanying piano and was well suited to the acoustics of the hall.

The Concerto was preceded by
a warm, expansive interpretation of William Boyce's Fifth Symphony,
which seemed to put the audience in a relaxed, receptive mood. It was
followed by Beethoven's Symphony No. 4, played with melodic grace and a
keen appreciation for the subtleties of its moods and orchestration.

As conductor at the Handel
Festival in Halle and the Handel Festival in the Washington area, Stephen Simon
has presented many fine performances of major works of the Baroque era.
Thus, it is not surprising that he brought a bit of Handelian breadth and
splendor to the Concerto, and that its extensive sequences were shimmering
kaleidoscopes of timbres as well as buttresses for the structure of the work.
Through years of providing musicologically interesting, enjoyable concerts, and
reaching out to music lovers in the Washington area, he has earned the trust
and support of a loyal audience -- which certainly contributed much to the
success of the Concerto in this performance.

(Submitted
by Judith Fiehler, Washington, DC)

The Cezanne Trio

The Cezanne Trio, an
adventurous chamber music group that is exploring the Czech repertoire,
performed at the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC on February 16, 1999.
Their performance style and musicianship seem to be subtly changing as a result
of their expanding interests. In this performance, they demonstrated a
commendable eagerness to discover and perform Czech compositions from the late
Romantic era.

The concert opened with
Martinů's Duo for Violin and Violoncello. Violinist Mayumi Pawel and
cellist Douglas Wolters' sense of the sinewy, lyrical line made a delightful
impression. Through their performance, one could glimpse the vigorous,
playful personality of the composer. Pawel and pianist Carl Banner then
performed selections from Smetana's From My Homeland, an evocative work
which depicts the web of relationships, experiences, and love that formed the
composer's concept of what is uniquely Czech. Since the work presents a
wide range of emotions, it is also an excellent vehicle for conveying a
performer's own experience and outlook on life. Pawel and Banner demonstrated
that this appealing work can be most enjoyable to American audiences.

The most noteworthy discovery
of the evening was Vítězslav Novák's Trio quasi una ballata, a work
which balances dramatic vitality with grave dignity. The trio drew upon Czech
recordings for a better understanding of Novák's style. As a result, they
achieved a radiant texture with rich, vibrant sound and shafts of light, using
Novák's expressive chromatic inflection and figuration as clues to
interpretation. The majority of those in the audience were American.
Banner's animated description of the remarkable features of the work and of
similar compositions by Novák's contemporaries contributed significantly to the
enthusiastic audience response.

Guest artists Osman Kivrak,
viola, and Kim Miller, violin, have frequently performed together; their
collaboration to provide a solid nucleus of inner voices enabled a cohesive,
mature rendition of Dvořák's beloved Piano Quintet in A, op. 81.
The interpretation had an American subjectivity, for Dvořák's influence on
American music is so pervasive that it is difficult for Americans to view his
work without reference to that influence. Nevertheless, the ensemble made
a deliberate effort to perform the work as Czech chamber musicians would, as a
unified group rather than an association of individuals. The insights
gained from performing Novák enhanced the interpretation of this work as well.

Dvořák was a violist, and
playing his viola parts can yield remarkable insights into his musicality and
the man himself. As a composer and highly experienced performer, Kivrak
was able to convey this performer's view eloquently, with refined, sensitive
musicianship. He brought to mind Dvořák's somber reflectiveness, the
depths of his character, and above all, his love of beautiful sound. His
interpretation inspired the other players, unfolding to produce a memorable Dumky.

(Submitted
by Judith Fiehler, Washington, DC)

Radoslav Kvapil in Chicago

On March 10, 1999 Czech
pianist Radoslav Kvapil returned to Chicago to give a recital at Roosevelt
University which was of unusual musicological interest. Much of the
information in this review derives from interviews with this extraordinary
performer. As part of a lifelong effort to preserve the Czech piano
repertory and give it international exposure on a professional level,
Kvapil established the definitive performance practice for Dvořák's piano works
and for the original version of the Dvořák piano concerto. Kvapil
recently used Dvořák's own Bösendorfer piano to record the works that Dvořák
wrote in 1880, shortly after acquiring the instrument. In searching for
the most appropriate performance practice for these subtle, transparent works,
Kvapil discovered that their style must have been strongly influenced by the
mechanical characteristics of that piano -- for example, short reverberation
after the note was struck, its una corda pedal, and the disparity of
responsiveness between the upper and lower registers of the keyboard.
Perhaps even more remarkable, he found that the scores of these works seem
stylistically almost indistinguishable from certain Chopin works, and in
addition Dvořák's Mazurka (op. 56, no. 2) strongly resembles Chopin's Mazurka
(op.56, no.2)!

In this recital, Kvapil
provided a fascinating perspective of the results of this historical
investigation. He performed a sequence which included these works by Dvořák
and lesser-known works by Chopin without indicating composers or titles.
By using a performance style which may have approximated the one that Dvořák
had in mind, he clearly showed the stylistic correspondences among these works,
and convincingly recreated the moment at which Dvořák had been influenced by
Chopin. In this context, Kvapil was able to use his remarkable arsenal of
interpretative strategies to convey the fluctuating harmonic colors and tender,
almost tentative melodic lines with unforgettable, idyllic beauty.

He then played selections
from Chopin's Etudes op. 25, continuing to demonstrate the wide range of
interpretative possibilities for this composer's works. In the past,
Kvapil has played the entire set of twenty-four etudes in concert as a single
massive work, in which each etude seemed to begin as the psychological culmination
of the ones preceding it. In this recital, he began with the familiar
Etude no. 1 of op. 25, supporting an impression of apparently effortless,
impulsive lyric flight with a powerful, accurate technique which few pianists
can attain. And this technique enabled him to convey the psychological
force of the etudes which followed with overwhelming pianistic effect.

The last three etudes were
written when Chopin was in exile, grieving for the failure of the Polish revolt
and suffering from an illness that would prove fatal. Under Kvapil's
painstaking investigation, these etudes revealed themselves as gigantic, heroic
works which seem to portray Chopin's own struggle with fate. Kvapil
points out that internal evidence seems to indicate that Etude no. 11, the
so-called "Winter Wind," depicts the Polish revolution; with
characteristic attention to the fine details of the emotional aspect of the
moment, Kvapil gave each note of the final chords a separate intensity in order
to achieve the dark color of Chopin's imagination, convincingly expressing the
composer's grief over the failure of the revolution. And this grief was
deliberately intensified in Etude no. 12, producing shattering effects which,
in the end, seemed to parallel those of Dante's Paradise Lost.
From Kvapil's performance, it was immediately obvious that Liszt, Smetana, Novák,
and many others who followed Chopin had understood the psychological impact and
the greatness of these etudes.

Kvapil concluded the program
with Part 1 of Smetana's Czech Dances and the Skočna from Part 2,
playing Slepička from Part 2 as an encore. Although the technical
brilliance of these dances shows Chopin's influence, Kvapil conceded that the
connection might have been more obvious to the audience if he had paired
conventional Chopin works with Smetana's Three Poetic Polkas, which are
closer to the sweet, ornamented "bel canto" style that most of us
associate with Chopin's music -- but this choice would have made a less
interesting program.

As always, Kvapil played
sensitively, brilliantly, channeling his heroic intensity into thoughtfully
nuanced poetic forms and dramatic frames. One's awareness of the
sophistication of his performance practice with respect to atmosphere,
coloration, phrasing, nuance and rhythmic proportion increases with additional
hearings of his performances. His interpretative style for Czech works
produces a precise, carefully considered unity between faithful adherence to
the letter and spirit of the work, and portrayal of the psychological,
perceptive, dramatic content which is indispensable to this repertory; it is in
many cases a rare survival of a precious, endangered performance practice.
We are fortunate that Kvapil continues this vital work.

(Submitted
by Judith Fiehler, Washington, DC)

Martinů String Quartet at
the Czech Embassy in Washington, DC

The Martinů String Quartet
performed at the Czech Embassy on March 22, 1999. These performers are
most fortunate. Thoroughly trained in the Central European style which
Czechs have lovingly preserved and enhanced, they have also gained experience
in international competitions and have profited from contacts with
internationally acclaimed artists such as Nathan Milstein and Bernard
Greenhouse. In addition, they are young enough to discover fresh delight
in each performance.

The March program opened with
Haydn's String Quartet in g minor, op. 743, no. 3 (The Rider).
This work displayed the ensemble's mastery of the Czech tradition to advantage.
They played with a warm, rich sound, elegant phrasing, and scrupulous attention
to nuance and dramatic effect. A notable sign of their expertise was the
seamless, fluent handling of the transitions between musical sections.
Polished, courtly decorum was leavened with dashes of wit, reflecting the often
forgotten aristocratic atmosphere in which such works were first performed.

In their performance of Janáček's
first string quartet (Kreutzer Sonata), the ensemble not only showed a
clear understanding of the composer's style and his historical significance,
but also conveyed a passionate mood which matched well the association this
work has with Tolstoy's short story -- the suspenseful, soaring line hovered on
the edge of rapture and heartbreak. Here, attention to fine details gave
the interpretation a clarity and sense of purpose which balanced the raw
wildness and piercing sweetness of the music itself.

The ensemble's interpretation
of Schubert's String Quartet no. 13 in a minor, D. 804 was also most satisfying.
First of all, the interpretation showed a rare appreciation for the violinistic
nature of Schubert's chamber music style. The empathic cooperation of the
ensemble, especially between second violinist Petr Matějak and violist Jan
Jisa, was particularly effective for the style of developing variation which
characterizes much of this work. The proportions and moods of the large
form were admirably balanced, to a large measure because of Jitka Vlasánková's
well-considered leadership. But most importantly, Schubert's noble,
direct courage in the face of darkness was well depicted.

It was most appropriate that
the last movement of Dvořák's American Quartet was played as an encore.
Its gleeful exuberance was most refreshing after the smoldering intensity of
the Schubert work. Once again, a marvelous mood was solidly based on a
highly responsible, well-considered interpretation -- an approach to
musicianship which transcends virtuosity to convey human experience and
perception. But this time, the interpretation seemed to reflect a dash of
the Wild West, the pulse of Dvořák's beloved railroads, and the harmonium at
Spillville, Iowa.

...The publicity photograph of this
ensemble reveals something of its character. The group's enviable
standard of interpretation and performance is undoubtedly due to its first
violinist, Lubomír Hávlak. In the photograph, however, he remains
modestly in the background, allowing the other performers to take the
limelight.

The concert was graced by the
presence of František Smetana, one of the greatest of Czech cellists, who came
from Richmond, Virginia to hear the ensemble and greet the performers. Smetana
will return to his beloved Prague this summer where he will continue to
transmit his wisdom to young Czech musicians.

The Dvořák Society (Great
Britain) is
celebrating the 25th anniversary of its founding this year. Among the
many events and activities scheduled to commemorate this important date, the
Society has organized a series of impressive lectures over the course of the
year. Included are:

April 1
Extracts from a Life with Czech Music
Sir Charles Mackerras (Conductor and President of the Dvořák Society)

May 6
Nationalism in Czech Music - Is it due for relabeling?
Karel Janovický (Composer and former director of BBC Czechoslovak Services)

June 3
The Moravian Influence on Czech Music
Antonín Tučapský (Composer and former Professor of Composition at Trinity
College
of Music)

(Source:
Notice of 25th Anniversary Lecture Series distributed by The Dvořák Society,
London)

Novák's Karlštejn at
SUNY Stony Brook

On Friday, April 30, Brian
Locke presented a paper titled "A Queen, a Castle, and a 'Beautiful Boy':
Feminine Presence and Masculine Spaces in Novák's Karlštejn" at
SUNY Stony Brook (New York). The premise of the paper was to examine the
intersection of themes of nation and gender in Novák's opera, written during
the turbulent years of the first world war. Excerpts from the opera were
performed by: Gwendolyn Hillman, soprano (Královna Alžběta); Maksim
Ivanov, baritone (Karel IV); Renee Cometa and Donna Locke, piano.

(Submitted
by Brian Locke)

From the Kaprálová Society -

- The Kaprálová Society has
expanded its website to include a database devoted exclusively to women
composers. This page may be accessed at <http://www.interlog.com/~hartl/Kapralova/DATABASE.htm>.The site also includes a link to
Czech women composers under the category Women in Music Links.

Composers included in the
database were selected according to the following criteria: 1) must have
been born prior to 1950; 2) are listed in Aaron Cohen's Encyclopedia of
Women Composers; 3) their works have been recorded and are listed in the
R.E.D. Classical 1999 Catalogue (i.e., their recordings should be commercially
available). Links to other online resources for specific composers have
also been provided. In addition, the Society's new webpage includes a
selective discography (linked to online information on available recordings) as
well as a number of links to resources for and about women composers.

- Dr. Jan Smaczny has just
joined the Kaprálová Society as a member of the Advisory Committee. Dr.
Smaczny is the Hamilton Harty Professor of Music at Queen's University,
Belfast. Czech music of the twentieth century is among his scholarly
interests. He is also a frequent broadcaster on the BBC Radio and
contributes reviews to several music periodicals, including the BBC Music
Magazine. Also joining the Advisory Committee are Graham Melville-Mason (Great
Britain) and Czech composer Sylvie Bodorová. For more information on
members of the Committee, their areas of specialty and many achievements,
visit: http://www.interlog.com/~hartl/Kapralova/WHOISWHO.htm

- Two reviews of the CDs of
Kaprálová's music have been published recently in the UK -- Dr. Jan
Smaczny's review appeared in the June issue of the BBC Music Magazine, and Greg
Terian's review was included in the April issue of the newsletter of The Dvořák
Society of Great Britain.

- The Society will nominate
Kaprálová's String Quartet, op. 8 and Ritornell, op. 25 for
inclusion in the anthology of women composers (a project of the Macmillan
Publishing Company). The 12-volume anthology entitled Women Composers: Music
Through the Ages has been co-edited by Martha Furman Schleifer and Sylvia
Glickman (of Hildegard Publishing) since 1993. Should the nomination be
accepted, Kaprálová would be represented in the 20th-century volume, to be
released in 2001.

- On May 1, the Toronto
address for the The Kaprálová Society was changed to: 57 Charles Street
West, Suite 1812, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2X1. The Society no longer has a Prague
address but has moved to Kaprálová's beloved village of Tři Studně. The
Society's new address in the Czech Republic is now: Tři Studně 110, 592 04 Fryšava.
In addition, the Society has a new e-mail address: ksociety@interlog.com.

(Submitted
by Karla Hartl, The Kaprálová Society)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT . . .

....Alliance Publications, based in Fish Creek, Wisconsin,
specializes in Czech and Slovak music and is a particularly profitable source
for works by contemporary composers. Their catalog includes approximately
500 works from more than ninety composers, forty-five of which are Czech or
Slovak, and emphasizes educational / professional music, liturgical works, and
Czech and Slovak classical and folk music. Entries for several of the
composers contained in their catalog also include a short biography.

Alliance Publications was
founded by Joel Blahnik and Anita Smisek, two versatile advocates
of Czech and Slovak music. The duo has also formed the Czech Music
Alliance which conducts workshops and presentations at schools and
universities, state and national conventions, churches and religious
institutions throughout the United States. On February 11, 1999 the
Czech Music Alliance sponsored a highly successful workshop at the Minnesota
Music Educators Convention in Minneapolis titled "Music and Composers from
the Czechoslovak Tradition."

On February 13th, Mr. Blahnik
conducted a two-hour workshop for the national German-Bohemian Society in New
Ulm, Minnesota. The central theme for the workshop was Bohemia as the
Heart of Europe with a secondary musical focus on the several centuries of
German/Bohemian co-existence in "The Music of Bohemia - A Shared
Tradition."

The Czech Music Alliance also
assists with performance tours for Czech musicians. Among their most
recent efforts was the Midwest portion of pianist Radoslav Kvapil's annual tour
in the United States. Alliance Publications is a source for Mr. Kvapil's
CDs and also the five video tapes that profile him as Master Teacher using the
works of Voříšek, Smetana, Dvořák, Janáček, Fibich and Martinů.

In July 1999 the Alliance is
helping sponsor Zdeněk Lukaš's trip to the United States for the premiere of
his Messaggio (The Message) with the World Association of Symphonic
Bands and Ensembles in San Luis Obispo, California. Fifteen American
universities are also supporting the premiere. Plans for 2000 include a
return tour by Kvapil as well as performances by Professor of Classical Guitar
at Brno Conservatory and President of the Czech Classical Guitar Society,
Vladislav Bláha.

Joel Blahnik also serves as
Music Director for the Czech International Music Camp for Youth in Horní Jelení.
The Camp is now in its third year and emphasizes work with chamber orchestra,
symphonic orchestra, symphonic band, harp, and piano. Mr. Blahnik is also
a composer in his own right. A CD of his work Slava with the Czech
Radio Orchestra has just been released.

For additional information on
Alliance Publications and the Czech Music Alliance, visit their website at <http://www.apimusic.org>. This
homepage also contains links to a full list of works published.

(Compiled
from information submitted by Joel Blahnik)

Focus on Composers . . .

JAN VIČAR (1949 - ) ......

.

One of the
composers whose works are published by Alliance Publications is JAN VIČAR.
Dr. Vičar is also Professor of Musicology at the Academy of Music and
Performing Arts in Prague and at the Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech
Republic. He studied musicology in Olomouc and composition in Brno and
Prague. As a visiting scholar, he has worked at Humboldt University in
Berlin, at universities in Rome and Bologna, Cambridge University, Indiana
University at Bloomington, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and at
the University of Chile in Santiago.

Dr. Vičar worked as
editor-in-chief of the Czech music journal Hudební rozhledy and has also
written three books: Accordion (Prague 1981), Václav Trojan
(Prague 1989), and Hudební kritika a popularizace hudby (Music Criticism
and the Popularization of Music - Prague 1997), as well as several articles on
20th-century music. He also contributed to the international conference Musical
Institutions and the Circulations of Music and Musicians in Bohemia and
Moravia, 1600-1900 - the State of the Sources and the Current Literature
(November 21-23, 1997). Several of the papers from this colloquium were
published in vol. 4 of Musicologica Olomucensia (Palacký University -
Olomouc, 1998).

Dr. Vičar has spent the last
several months at the Department of Music, St. Cloud State University, St.
Cloud, Minnesota (November 2, 1998 - June 30, 1999) as the recipient of a
Fulbright/CIES scholar-in-residence award. His lecture circuit during
this period has included eight universities throughout the United States where
he has spoken on a wide range of interesting topics (listed below).

European Classical Music
in Today's World University of
Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa (December 11, 1998) Florida State
University, Tallahassee, Florida (February 1, 1999) College of
St. Benedict, St. Joseph, Minnesota (March 18, 1999)

"Unknown" Czech
Music after 1945 University of
Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa (December 11, 1998) University of
New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico (April 30, 1999)

Leoš Janáček and His
"The Diary of One Who Vanished" Florida State
University, Tallahassee, Florida (February 2, 1999)

Music against the War American
University, Washington, DC (March 26, 1999) Wake Forest
University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina (March 30, 1999)

In addition to the above
lectures, Dr. Vičar also spoke at St. Cloud State University on Nationalism
in Music (National, Universal, and Individual in Czech Music); "Unknown"
Czech Music Theory after 1945; Karel Janeček (1903-74), Czech
Non-Schenkerian Music Theorist; Václav Trojan's Film Music; and Composing
for Children's Choir. From this full lists of lectures, three were
given at the Minnesota Music Theory Consortium and American Composer's Forum
(April 23, 1999). In addition, Dr. Vičar presented a paper Echoes of
Czech Music in America at the SVU conference Czech and Slovak America:
Quo Vadis? in Minneapolis (April 24-26, 1999) (see Newsletter II/3 - Fall
1998).

Dr. Vičar's new works (Water,
Water Mine, General McCook, and Walking Whales in Washington),
as well as several older compositions (The Instructions of Šuruppak, Butterflies,
and Whither Sails My Paper Boat) were presented altogether a total of
twenty-two times by soloists, choirs, and brass bands in Minnesota and Nebraska
from March through May 1999.

Additional information
regarding Dr. Vičar's biography and works is contained in the brochure
published by the Czech Music Information Centre (Hudební informační středisko,
1998) (Main website: <http://www.sdmusic.cz/czmic>)

The concert featured Zdeněk
Fibich's Missa brevis, op. 21, completed in 1885. Also included on
the program were Parasti mensam by Leopold Mozart, Lauda Sion
by Jan Piotr Habermann, and Pange Lingua by Pál Esterházy. St.
Joseph's is an old German ethnic parish which maintains the tradition of the
orchestral Mass. The St. Joseph Musical Society, a non-profit support
organization for the music program at St. Joseph's, also operates St. Joseph's
Press, which expects eventually to publish a performing edition of Fibich's Missa
brevis.

(Submitted
by William Worden)

The Melodramas of Jiří
Benda (August 15,
1999)

The Landestheater in
Innsbruck will be the site of the next performance of Benda's Ariadne auf
Naxos and Medea by La Petite Bande, a baroque orchestra founded in
1972 by Sigiswald Kuijken for the initial purpose of recording Lully's Le
Bourgeois Gentilhomme. The group has also presented Benda's
melodramas in Leuven (April 21), Brussels (April 22), Amsterdam (May 1), and
Schwetzingen, Germany (May 2). A television performance is in the planning
stages for August 17-19. Additional information regarding these concerts
and La Petite Bande may be accessed through the orchestra's homepage at <http://www.ping.be/lapetitebande/calend_e.htm>.

.9th Prague Autumn
International Festival
(September 11-27, 1999)

All performances begin at
8:00 p.m. Concerts will be held in the Rudolfinum, Smetana Hall, the
State Opera, and Žofín Hall. Czech composers represented include Johann
Nepomuk Hummel (Piano Concerto in b minor - September 16), Vítězslav Novák
(O věčné touze - September 17), Josef Bohač (Malá symfonie [Czech
premiere] - September 18), Janáček (Suite from the opera Výlety pana Broučka
- September 21), Josef Suk (Fantasy in g minor for violin - September
21), and Dvořák (Cello Concerto in b minor - September 26). The
full program for the festival and lists of performers featured in each concert
can be found at <http://www.pragueautumn.cz/english/index.htm>.

Additional Opportunities
in the Czech Republic

Visit the website Musical
Events in the Czech Republic 1999 <http://www.musica.cz/events/>
compiled by the Czech Music Information Center. This site contains links
to a wide variety of categories, including festivals and concerts of classical,
folk, sacred, and popular music; courses for performers and composers;
competitions; and musicological conferences.

J.S. Zámečník (1872-1953) was
one of the most prolific composers for silent film. After several years of
advanced musical education, he traveled from his native Cleveland to Prague,
where he studied for two years with Dvořák (1896 and 1897). Zámečník
became director and house composer for the Hippodrome Theater in Cleveland when
it opened in 1907. As the vaudeville shows at the Hippodrome were replaced by
motion pictures, he was among the first wave of composers to routinely write
new music for films instead of borrowing from the classics. Zámečník's
works reflect his opinion that film music was an artistic genre that could
surpass the music of opera or ballet. The pieces date from 1913 through 1924,
and are not just curiosities from a forgotten genre of music, but stand easily
among the masterpieces of salon orchestra literature.

The music on this recording
was not intended for any specific film . It was published for general use by
theater music directors and cue sheet compilers to use when compiling new
scores. This was the most common form of silent film score, but to my knowledge
this type of music has not been available in a modern recording before
(although there are several fine recordings of silent film scores for specific
movies).

The Mont Alto Motion Picture
Orchestra has been compiling and performing silent film scores in live performances
since 1994, and has recorded scores for three Kino Video releases -- The
Whispering Chorus, Cobra, and Fatty and Mabel Adrift; and the
Milestone/Timeline release Amarilly of Clothesline Alley. Mont
Alto is a five-piece orchestra consisting of violin, cello, piano, clarinet,
and trumpet.

The album notes have been
carefully researched, presenting a brief biography of Zámečník, and an
introduction to the genre of silent film music. You may order a copy of
this CD directly from Mont Alto by sending a check or money order made to Mont
Alto for $16.99 (includes shipping within U.S. or Canada) to: The Mont
Alto Orchestra, 401 Spruce Street, Louisville, CO 80027-1943. (Editor's
note: The CD may also be ordered via Amazon.com at $16.99 plus shipping.
The Amazon webpage offers additional information, including a list of the
individual pieces contained on the CD. To order via this site, visit <http://www.amazon.com>.)

"The Mont Alto Motion
Picture Orchestra made a wonderful impression on me when I heard it in a live
performance, and this little group of five marvelous virtuosos sounds equally
wonderful on this CD.J. S. Zámečník's music instantly
creates the perfect atmosphere to accompany every possible sort of silent film
scene - from intense sorrow to joyous ragtime dances to spooky haunted house
music. And everything is played with love, musicality, great technical
expertise, and a great sense of humor (when appropriate). No silent film
could do better than to have the Mont Alto Orchestra providing its musical
score." -- Alice Artzt, classical guitarist and silent film music
historian

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